Learning Cities in Korea: Suwon engages beyond its city borders

On 28 June 2018, a delegation from Suwon City, Republic of Korea, including the Vice Mayor, Mr Han Kyu Lee and the Head of the Department of Education and Youth, Yong Deok Kim, paid a visit to the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) to discuss how the city can engage in strengthening the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities and its activities.

Learning cities in Korea are at the forefront of developing diverse and innovative strategies to provide lifelong learning opportunities to their citizens. Suwon has been a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities since 2016 and has shown outstanding commitment and practice in building a learning city. Not only has the city won the UNESCO Learning City Award 2017, it has also hosted the UNESCO Mid-Term Review of Adult Education and Learning in October 2017.

In July, Suwon will present their city case in a side event on Learning Cities in the UN High level political Forum 2018 and in August 2018, it will also host a conference on learning cities and the role of education in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, in which UIL will be engaged.

At this juncture new collaboration opportunities have been discussed. Among them the provision of training workshops to cities in developing countries.

The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities lives from its members. Its vision that lifelong learning for all is our cities’ future can only be achieved through active engagement and commitment among member cities, within and across their city boarders